A moment of clear truth
by Loveforthestory
Summary: 'Do you know how hard he is willing to fight for you' Charlie can see the look in his eyes soften. Tears are pushing to get through as Connor looks pissed and overwhelmed at the same time. Her voice is strong and with a lace of anger in her words. 'He was about to give his life for you. And he would do that again.'


**A little note: So do you know that feeling, when you are so sure you did something? Well, this scene for this prompt was so clear in my mind that I really thought I wrote it and published it. Turns out, I didn't. So after a gentle reminder from the Armada, ( thank you!) here it is! Also a very big thank you for the store that sells me my coffee, as I am enjoying one now too. ;)**

 **This is fanfiction, and a daydream about what could have happened too. I do not own Revolution.**

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A moment of clear truth

After all the Matheson Monroe drama, Connor has enough. He is breathing harshly when he leaves Willoughby behind. Although rage is preventing him from thinking it through completely. It does not matter. Anger and rage do.

One year of having to listen how Miles and his dad came up with the most stupid plans he had ever heard of. Charlie on fire with them and her stubborn courage and crossbow.

That blonde wack job, always whining and always giving her speeches. Fighting with all of them. His dad making promises about Republics, Connor is not sure anymore he could keep anymore. One year on the road, one year of sleeping on the damn floor and hiding in safe houses.

Now the war is over, now he is settling down with his dad in this small town and after he had gotten into another bar fight last night when he had tried to outrun the pain, Connor has enough.

He tried. He gave up so much. Being here, around his dad and Miles and his mom so close too somehow, is a constant aching reminder that Connor does not know who he is or where the hell he stands. A constant aching reminder of hurt of things that are not there anymore. Jasper, home. His mom. Mexico. A deep painful realization how his father should have been there from the start. How he was denied of those years with him.

He does not make it far. She stands there, just outside the small town and near that tree not far from him. Her eyes strong and aimed at him. Her eyebrow raised and her arms crossed before her chest, leather jacket zipped up. Charlie.

Connor lets out a pissed sigh as he keeps on walking. He almost shakes his head no in a rigid attempt to keep going. She stops him cold in his tracks.

'Do you know how much I would give to have one more moment with my dad?'

That is Charlie. She will give you that almost mocking Matheson smirk of hers as she walks away from you. And then, she opens up, ripping your own heart open along the way.

Charlie looks at Connor. At his bag, at the look of pissed of rage boiling in those dark eyes of him and that flows all the way to and through his shoulders.

One look and she knows what he is about to do. Because it is herself, on that day she had gotten into that one fight with her dad, that she sees now in Connor.

Connor wants to keep on going, but her words are like a punch in the face and are keeping him in one place. Charlie rarely opens up. And he cannot ignore the raw tremble of contained grieve in her voice. Although her eyes soften as he sees how her mind takes her back in time right in front of him.

'I got into a fight with him one night. A stupid fight where all I wanted was to see that world out there and all he wanted was to keep me safe. And I walked out of our house with the first light the next day. I needed some time. To think, to be on my own. And when I was doing that, he got shot. Just like that.'

Charlie feels that one day pressing on her shoulders all over again. And it is torture to finally put that day into words, but she knows it is needed now. Connor needs to see, that what he is doing now, can change everything. Can create regret and guilt that will never leave again. For good.

And although so much happened between her and Monroe, she knows.

She knows how hard he loves his kid. She knows what kind of parent he is. Someone that is all in and would go through hell and back, literally like he had almost done for Connor in that cage fight in Vegas, for his blood. For his son.

Charlie has seen it in Monroe's eyes. Looks at Connor. Of pride. And love. She had seen it in his actions.

She looks up at Connor, making sure he gets everything she is saying.

'I can never take that back, I can never say those things to him that I wanted to tell him...'

Her emotions overrun here and take her by surprise. She was not planning on showing this much of herself, but the moment gives her no choice.

And she thinks about everything she did not get to tell Ben anymore. And Charlie hopes her dad knows, about how sorry she was about all those stupid fights, that he knows that she sees now how much he was looking out for her, and she hopes he has felt how much she has loved him and still loves him.

Connor cannot look away as he feels her own pain now in his gut too. Tears in his own eyes are there for her tears, as he watches the pain in her face.

'I am so sorry, Charlie.' His voice is raw and broken.

He throws his bag on the ground as he takes a step closer to her. His hands somehow want to give her some comfort, because a Charlie this open and this raw and hurt just aches for him comforting her.

And he thinks about his own mom, about her perfume he sometimes catches on the first spring wind. He thinks about how much he misses her. About what was and is not anymore. And then he remembers what his dad had told him in that storm cellar of that first safe house they went to. He can hear his dad's voice so close.

 _We've all got our sad stories, but you got to burry that deep and play ball._

He is starting to get it now, that he is not alone in his own hell of grieve and misery. With Charlie's words it is getting more tangible with the second. Her pain, her grieve. And she is somehow still here, still fighting and holding on.

It is fucked up, but he realizes he is not alone in this dark place of feeling that his own pain will overrun him. He is not the only one hurting. And just like that, he feels a bit less out of place, a bit less alone.

And when her words truly reach him and he watches a Charlie in so much pain he almost reaches out for her hand. Jut to do anything. But he can't. He is not sure she will let him. he is not sure he can. So he listens.

Charlie looks up at him. Her cheeks are wet with tears now. Her eyes red. Tears are moving from her cheek to her lips as they moves over the skin of her face.

There is a moment when they both just look at the other.

Missing a father.

Missing a mother.

They are both with them there. Ben. Emma.

Connor watches how she moves the tears away from her cheeks and neck with one determined sweep of the back of her hand. When Charlie speaks again, her voice is strong and gentle at the same time.

'He is right there.' She nods in a small way to Willoughby right behind Connor. Charlie wishes she could keep the treacherous tremble out of her voice.

This time it is Monroe, it is Bass, who is right there with the both of them.

Connor breathes out, his eyes not filled with that red rage anymore when his heart fills with other things.

'Do you know how hard he is willing to fight for you?' There is a small tender blue through strong blue in her eyes now.

Charlie can see the look in Connor's eyes soften. Tears are still pushing to get through. Her voice is strong and with a lace of anger in her words.

'He was about to give his life for you. And he would do that again.'

Charlie watches how Connor's shoulders empty their tension and rage right in front of her.

'Look, I get it...things have been hard. And I am not sure about a lot of things, but about this? A small tender smile plays around her lips now.

'He is here. And he loves you.'

Connor finally feels the wall of anger crumbling down. His vision gets blurry and his eyes burn with salt that move to the back of his throat. He cannot look at her anymore as he has to take a step away from her and sags slowly against a tree, his hand going through his hair.

He misses his mom so hard he is not sure he can breathe. He feels the strong certainty of a father who is willing to fight so hard for him close. Both emotions mix and it overwhelms him as he is not sure what to feel anymore. He feels the rough bark of the tree against his shoulders and back behind him.

Charlie looks at Connor, she looks at a rare moment of raw vulnerability they all so rarely get to feel. Staying alive means little time for luxuries like these.

And the part in her that is Ben, and strength and filled with courage makes her heart strong enough now to take step closer to Connor.

She crouches down before him as she places her hand on his arm. The stones of her bracelets, the bracelets her dad give her to her once, on a day very far away, brush against his jacket.

He sits, defeated as he feels the warmth of her slender fingers through the sleeve of his jacket. Her words so true and so close.

Moving through pride and ego and anger and then through the last wall of them all, through abandonment and loneliness.

Charlie moves as she sits with him, shoulder to shoulder. And it takes a long time as the sounds of the forest change around them now sunrise is not far, but finally Charlie feels the shift in Connor.

And she can finally breathe out. For Monroe, for not losing his kid again now he had him in his life again. For herself, for not wanting to lose the friend that Connor is becoming and somehow already is.

She knows he will stay. So, she is able to breathe out, knowing what it would have cost Connor, and Bass, if Connor had walked away.

They sit. Shoulder to shoulder as Connor is close to her. And there, when sunrise is close, she looks at the bracelets around her wrist and she lets the aching grieve that is wishing her own dad is here close. A small soft whimper escapes her lips as honest tears of grieve fall again in the first light of sunrise.

Connor is finally able to look up as she watches Charlie with tears in her eyes. And he cannot talk, not just yet, but he can move his hand so it cups hers. His larger hand now over hers, as he is holding hers gently, telling her thank you for his and showing her he understands, love, loss and family.

She allows him there, just for a second. But Connor feels the strong squeeze of her hand in his, when she looks straight ahead.

Near a tree, close to the both of them, Bass watches them both. Connor. Charlie. Another Matheson, another Monroe. A new friendship.

He had followed Connor the moment he has stormed out of Willoughby. Unable to do anything else. And he has heard them. Each and every one of them. Her words.

But most of all, he feels Charlie's words right through his damn chest, as she is crashing straight into his heart.

Words of loyalty, words of acknowledging what he would do for Connor over and over again. What he had already done. Because hell, she is not wrong. He would only wish he could make Connor see. He is there. He loves his kid.

Family trumps power and control every damn time. If he would choose, he would do that in a heartbeat. Every fucking time. Over and over again. Because Bass is so damn sure.

He knows.

He has always known.

Family is everything.

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 **Author's Note I really think Charlie could be strong enough to finally see how much Bass cares for his son and what he would do for Connor. And I think it would be such a strong moment where she would defend Bass and shows Connor how much love is here. This prompt (for the Armada, #72 Regret comes in different shades)is about one of those conversations that I personally feel could have happened in friendship between Charlie and Connor. They have both lost a parent, they both of them have family ties in Jasper. That thought was the inspiration for his piece. Enjoy your weekend, with stories, reading or writing! Love from Love** **from Love**


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